Why Are We Getting So Fat?

Great Debates
1

http://slate.msn.com/Economics/01-05-01/Economics.asp

Why Are We Getting So Fat?
A few theories on America’s weight problem.
By Steven E. Landsburg

Another articles about the obesity epidemic in the US. He points out that the South has the biggest problem. Georgia is the worst with a whopping 21% of the population obese. Here is his theory:

"That’s my theory, or rather my pair of theories: The obesity
epidemic is caused by some combination of medical advances
and low-fat foods. Can some reader do better? E-mail me your
theory, or post it in “The Fray.”

I think it’s diet and life style. Too much McDonalds and cars, not enough health food and bikes.

2

Life style I agree with completely, but I don’t think lack of health food is a problem. Obesity is a rising trend, which means people where in far better shape back in the old days- before there was such a thing as health food. Now, an excess of junk food, on the other hand, is a big problem because so many people don’t work off the calories from it.

3

I’m starting a new weight loss clinic chain, basing its principles on the reasons for our national obesity. It’s program will be simple, put less food in your mouth, and move your body around more.

Seriously, more food availability, hi fat and hi caloric content, larger portion sizes, and decreased exercise are the main culprits, IMHO. Advertising helps drive the process, making things like sodas (in reality liquid candy bars) seem to be a necessary accompaniment to all food intake, rather than an occasional treat. Big hype, bright colors, prizes in every box, supersize it, and the child in us is hooked, and ready to metamorphosize into a baby blue whale.

Feh.

Qadgop, MD

4

Perhaps it is time for strict government regulation of our diet. Make Burger King consumers finance payment of huge fines, that sort of thing…

5

I tell you what me and my wife both agreed to get “fit” for each other. And it has been great she is under a 115 pound now from a 148 and I am at around 208(because I am lifting heavy to get big and muscle weighs more than fat).

And since then are sex life and life in general has been so much better. I think if people would just do it until they saw what they look like thin and trim they would keep doing it. I know I will.

6

Bill, stop it, you’re getting me all hot and bothered! I don’t suppose you could send a photo of yourself (shirtless) to the SDMB People Pages?

7

Yup, Bill’s right. We’re lazy. Losing weight requires us to eat less and exercise–both of which take effort. We’re willing to try Fen-Phen, Atkins, creams and herbs–but god forbid we put any actual effort into being healthy.

8

One thing I’ve noticed, ever since I went onto the Atkins Diet (easy now, you rabid dopers!), and then onto a low-carb diet, is that high-carbohydrate foods are everywhere.

Just try to find some sort of snack that doesn’t have sugar of some sort in it. If the food doesn’t normally have sugar in it, the manufacturers (boy, isn’t it weird to think that foods have manufacturers?) add sugar to it! If the food does have sugar in it, they add more!

Why? 'Cause it’s addictive- foods with sugar in 'em sell better than those without.

Now that I’ve gone sugar-less, I find that my tastes have changed- things that I previously found to be tasteless ('cause they don’t have sugar in 'em), I now find to be quite tasty.

Oh, and I’ve lost about 20 pounds. :slight_smile:

9

Your post reminds me of this Onion article.

10

I see Libertarian and I see “government regulation” in the post. Is this some sort of evil juxtapostion?

IMHO, the fattening of America has been brought to you by Frito-Lay and America On-Line. As has been said already, food portions are getting larger, and people are more sedentary. How many of you are sitting at a computer instead of doing something active? I for one spend too much time at a computer and it is starting to grate on me. I know that I need to be more physically active.

11

Ummm…I don’t know about all that…

My sex life improved 1000% after I gained a little weight. My body bloomed from a 110 lb kid to a 135 lb woman, and I have never been happier about my body. Women are made to have a little bit of padding on their hips and bellies, enough, specifically, to get you through a pregnacy. I have curves and softness to my body, not the coathanger boniness that you see on many models. Not all women want to be ultra skinny. It is not the universal ideal. Women of all sizes are able to be happy with their body and have fulfilling lives, and fulfilling sex lives.

I think America’s love-hate relationship with food is to blame. We have an abundance of processed food, which is advertised to us from all sides. We also have a sense of guilt when we eat. The standards for women and size are ridiculous. America’s dysfunctional relationship with food results in…dysfunction.

Honestly I think that people need to eat less processed food. For example, when we crave fruit, we are more likely to reach out for a starburt or skittles than a nice orange. When we want cheese we go for cheetos, not a nice slab of cheddar. It’s starts when we are young. Why is it that ads give the impression that the only thing kids will eat has to be pink, dinosaur shaped, and come with a prize? For most of human history, kids ate what adults ate, but now suddenly they can’t possibly do that! They need food that is targeted towards kids!

It all goes back to the practice of branding and it all leads to someone making a lot of cash.

And people here avoid the most simple forms of exersize, yet pay money to go to gyms. I have seen people drive around the gym parking lot looking for the closest space. People have forgotten completely how to walk places.

Our bodies were made to work. We wen’t made to have to spend hours in the gym. We wern’t made to have to eat Snakwell’s and Slim Fast.

12

I read the same article today and pondered opening a thread myself, although I would have entitled it “Does this thread make me look fat?”

Well then what is it about American diets (McDonald’s et al) that makes us fat? Some vegetarians say that it’s our carnivorous desires that make us fat. Various diet gurus tell us, no, the meat is fine, just ditch all those carbos. So what is it exactly about McDonald’s food that makes us fat? Any nutrition people here?

Is it a lack of exercise? Do Europeans, for example, exercise much more than we Yanks do? Anyone have data on that?

And it’s not like Americans have a shortage of people who think they are fat. Eating disorders are all too common. How does this tie in? If Americans are just lazy bastards who care little about being overweight, why do so many dangerously thin people obsess about not being slim enough? Apparently the US has many people who so apathetic about their weight that it’s unhealthy and many people who are so obsessed about their weight that it’s unhealthy. Something complex is going on here. It ain’t just Big Macs.

I noticed that the formula for determining if you are “overweight” (If your weight in pounds more than 3.5% of the square of your height in inches) or “obese” (Same deal, but 4.25%) seems, IMO, a bit ridiculous.

According to the article, I’m 10 pounds away from obese. Obese! Fuck that. I look healthy, I feel healthy, dammit, I am healthy. I don’t feel like my weight would be dangerous levels, even if I put on 10 pounds. I’ve never bveen accused of looking fat. My blood pressure and my cholesterol levels are consistently below normal, so who cares about the results of a formula? I can’t help but feel that a lot of the people various organizations define as fat sure as hell don’t seem fat.

There are many completely sedentary Americans who weigh 400 pounds and put strain on their hearts every time the very mass of their necks makes breathing difficult when lying supine. That’s unhealthy. That’s a medical issue that needs to be addressed.

I’m a 6’5", 240lbs. Leave my apparently fat ass alone.

[Edited by Alphagene on 05-03-2001 at 12:24 PM]

13

Alphagene:

According to Wake Forest University’s Baptis medical Center, the nutritional contents of the Big Mac are as follows:

You’re right, of course, that it’s not just the Big Macs . . . but damn.

14

Baptist Medical Center, of course.

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15

Clever!

French Fries are very bad, very fattening. I avoid them like the plague. McNuggets and other fried foods, and milk shakes are bad, also. I think their low-quality burgers have a lot of fat, too.

I think they bike and walk more than we do. Americans drive cars more than anyone.

16

I don’t think it’s laziness.

For most of mankind’s history, the battle has been to find enough calories to keep us from starving. Our bodies are efficient.

Modern society doesn’t entail the daily struggle to find sustenance. We work just as hard, just not with our bodies, and the food comes easy. If we want to be healthy, we have to make our bodies work.

I’m 6 foot, and 200 pounds, with essentially no fat on me. What I do is work out hard everyday, and eat whatever I want. I usually gain a little in the winter and lose it in the summer.

Since I started training for a marathon, my food consumption has basically doubled.

17

andros wrote:

Well, don’t just leave us hanging in the dark, andros! Tell us! How many grams of saturated fat does a Big Mac have?

(I base this question on my sound, scientific theory that saturated fat is responsible for all the ills of the world, including tornadoes.)

18

Since the question is why is there a recent increase in obesity in the US population in general, the answers, if there are any, should lie in some changes that are equally pervasive. McDonald’s Big Mac’s and other fast food have been around a long time. Unless there has been a recent increase in the per capita consumption of fast food, I don’t think that this is the answer. ( And if there has been such an increase, it should be easy to show.)

So what has changed? I think one explanation may be that a smaller percentage of the US workforce is involed in manual labor than in the past. Sitting at a desk all day burns fewer calories, and also gives more opportunities for snacking.

19

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Cheese Head *

**

Amen. I’ve discussed this in another thread, but it’s really noticeable how much thinner Manhattanites are than, well, pretty much the whole rest of the country. Although social pressure may play some role, a more practical reason is walking: to the subway, to work, to the supermarket, etc. And I’m not saying everyone’s twig thin, either, it’s just that this incidental exercise helps keep everything in check. People may be little overweight, but not grossly so.

I notice that even after just two days at my parents’ place, where you have to drive everywhere, I start feeling bloated.

Other forms of exercise are diminishing, too. Look how many people have riding tractors for mowing the lawn, even when it’s a pretty small lot. And the subdivision I grew up in didn’t even have sidewalks - there were “bike paths” around the park, but any practical walking had to be done on the street next to traffic. One leadfoot goes down the road and suddenly Mom’s driving the kids to the pool.

20

Yeah, people basically get as fat as they can get away with. Americans mostly can be fatter than the rest of the world, therefore we are. (and walking or biking around where I live is akin to a long walk off a short bridge)